Technology and the language of Disability

Now and then I read tweets relating to assistive technology and this one appeared today from @attipscast, twitter alias of Chris Bugaj – who describes himself as Co-author of The Practical (& Fun) Guide to Assistive Technology in Public Schools. His tweet:

“It’s time to lose the adjective “Assistive” before the word “Technology”. It’s just technology. #empowering Thank You Microsoft!”

Fair enough, sometimes there are words that I find irritating (especially hashtag empowering) but assistive? I can’t see how that can be demeaning to disabled people. Inspirational is a word I find a little patronising (and I think other people noticed it a lot during the Paralympics), but assistive technology as a phrase? What am I missing? Please tell me.

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Comments (1)

Simon

Couldn’t agree more. If the ‘assistive’ was dropped, then it would be even more difficult to find the stuff. Assistive technology needs to have a category. I’m glad you gave me a chance to get that off my chest – I feel slightly more empowered 🙂